THE EFFECT OF USING A LEGO TEACHING AID
ON THE HOPEFULNESS AND SELF-EFFICACY OF
TEACHERS
M Boucher
Honours B. Com Human Resource
Management
Mini-dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the degree
Magister Artium
in
Applied
Positive Psychology
at the North-West University, Vaal
Triangle Campus
Supervisor:
Prof C van Eeden
Graduation May 2018
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Preface
The MAPP program took me on a journey, very different to what I first imagined when I was accepted into the program. It pushed me out of my comfort zone with the weeks away from home, pulling my emotions in opposite directions with eagerness for new learnings, excitement for travelling and relief from house hold and mothering duties on the one hand and guilt on the other hand, for leaving three small children with my husband alone for many and extended times, while he also had a lot on his plate. With all the mixed emotions running wild inside of me, I grew, changed, stood up for myself and took charge ... of what was possible to take charge of.
I would like to thank the following people for all their assistance on my journey:
• Prof. Chrizanne van Eeden, my supervisor and mentor. It has been such a privilege and joy to walk the MAPP journey with you. You were there from the very first day and I could just draw from your knowledge, wisdom and experience.
• Brent Hutcheson and Linda Smith from Care for Education, for empowering me with knowledge and Duplo.
• Ross Boucher, my husband, for stepping in and being both dad and mom, while I was away, giving me the opportunity to follow this dream. Thank you for supporting me emotionally, financially and by always being willing to help with whatever I needed.
• My three precious children for tolerating and understanding that they had to leave mommy alone when she sat in front of her computer.
• My parents for all the support, visits, picking up and dropping me off at the airport. • My friends and fellow mommies in Plettenberg Bay, who stepped in and helped with
my kids while I was in Vanderbijlpark.
• Fellow MAPPer, Fernanda Jones for all the lifts between Vanderbijlpark, Pretoria, guesthouses and the university. Thank you for your fellowship and willingness to help me.
• The North-West University – Vanderbijlpark. What a beautiful campus. I felt at home from the very first day I stepped onto campus and was greeted by a gaggle of geese. • The ten teachers that participated in the Six Bricks training and research. Ladies I had much fun and joy during the time spent with you and you showed me what is to be a caring teacher.
• Last, and most important, my heavenly Father for this amazing opportunity with such blessings and favour along the way.
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As this chapter closes, I am excited to move forward and utilise this knowledge in my journey ahead.
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Declaration
I, Mandie Boucher, declare that " The effect of using a Lego teaching aid on the hopefulness and self-efficacy of teachers" is my own work and that the views and opinions expressed in this work are those of the author and based on relevant literature references as shown in the list of references.
I further declare that the content of this research will not be submitted for any other qualification(s) at any other institutions.
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Letter of Permission
The supervisor hereby gives permission to Mandie Boucher to submit this document as a mini-dissertation for the qualification MA in Positive Psychology.
The research report is in the article format as indicated in the 2015 General Academic Rules (A4.1.1.1.4 and A4.4.2.9) of the North-West University.
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Table of Contents
Preface ...ii
Declaration ... iv
Letter of Permission ... v
Declaration by Language Practitioner ... vi
List of Figures ... x
List of Tables ... xi
Summary ... xii
Chapter 1 ... 1
Problem Statement ... 2
Literature Framework for the Study ... 3
Hope/hopefulness ... 3
Self-efficacy ... 5
Play as a learning aid ... 8
The Six Bricks exercise ... 10
Block building ... 12
Research Questions and Aims ... 13
Research Methodology ... 14
Literature study... 14
Empirical study ... 14
Research design ... 14
Participants and procedures ... 14
Data collection ... 15
Quantitative data ... 15
Qualitative data ... 17
Analysis of data ... 19
Ethical Considerations ... 21
Beneficence and non-maleficence ... 22
Autonomy and respect for the dignity of participants ... 22
Impartiality and justice ... 23
Conclusion ... 23
Overview of Chapters ... 24
References: ... 25
CHAPTER 2 ... 32
Abstract ... 33
Hope and Hopefulness ... 35
Self-efficacy ... 36
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Lego Six Bricks... 40
Block Building ... 41
Research Questions and Aims ... 42
Research Methodology ... 42
Research design ... 42
Participants and procedures ... 43
Data collection ... 43 Quantitative data ... 43 Qualitative data ... 45 Analysis of data ... 46 Trustworthiness ... 47 Ethical Considerations ... 47
Results and Discussion ... 48
Quantitative findings ... 48
Results of pre-measurements and post-measurements applied ... 48
Qualitative findings ... 49
Initial qualitative exploration of teachers’ hope and sense of self-efficacy with regard to the teaching context ... 50
Circumstances... 50
Learner attributes ... 51
Equipment and materials ... 53
Parent Involvement ... 54
External Support ... 55
Normal teaching responsibilities ... 56
Extra teaching effort ... 58
Emotional disposition ... 60
The Six Bricks training workshop ... 62
Weekly feedback from teachers for the first month of applying the Six Bricks ... 63
Follow-up feedback on hope and sense of self-efficacy after four weeks ... 67
Circumstances... 67
Learner attributes ... 68
Normal teaching responsibilities ... 68
Extra Teaching efforts ... 69
Emotional disposition ... 69
Concluding Discussion ... 73
Hopefulness of teachers ... 74
Self-efficacy of teachers ... 75
Hopefulness and a sense of self-efficacy of teachers ... 76
References ... 79
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Conclusions of the Study ... 90
Limitations of this Research ... 95
Recommendations from the Study ... 95
Recommendations for further research. ... 95
Recommendations for practice/practical application. ... 96
Personal Reflection ... 97
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List of Figures
FIGURE 1: DUPLO EIGHT-STUD BRICKS ...10 FIGURE 2: ILLUSTRATIONS OF SIX BRICKS EXERCISES ... 12 FIGURE 3: PHOTOGRAPHS DEPICTING THE SIX BRICKS TRAINING WORKSHOP…. 63 FIGURE 4: LEARNERS DOING SIX BRICKS EXERCISES ... 66 FIGURE 5: LEARNERS USING SIX BRICKS FOR MULTIPLICATION SUMS ... 66
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List of Tables
TABLE 1: Data Collection Schedule ... 19
TABLE 2: Mean ranks of participants' scores for the SHS... 49
TABLE 3: Mean ranks of participants' scores for the TSES... 49
TABLE 4: Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test (Using participants' scores from SHS) ... 49
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Summary
The aim of this study was firstly, to explore teachers’ hope and sense of self-efficacy with regard to the teaching context, secondly, after training teachers to use the Six Bricks and supplying blocks to enable them to apply the teaching aid in their classrooms, to study the effect of training in and application of the Six Bricks as a teaching aid, on the teachers’ hope and sense of self-efficacy, by means of both quantitative and qualitative methods.
The teaching occupation appears to be exposed to various external and internal forces that influence a teacher’s emotional well-being. The emotional state of a teacher plays a vital role in creating the classroom environment, where learning will either be enhanced or hindered, depending on positive or negative perceptions of well-being in individual teachers (Hargreaves, 2000; Sutton, 2005; Titsworth, McKenna, Mazer, & Quinlan, 2013).
Schools in South Africa’s poor communities deal with many obstacles on a daily basis, often leaving teachers hopeless, frustrated and immobilised to make a difference in their learners’ lives (Cappy, 2016). Many teachers try to use different strategies to help them manage negative emotions in the classroom, which lead to the assumption that the introduction of positive classroom interventions could have a positive effect on the classroom environment. For the purpose of this study, Six Bricks, as a teaching aid in the classroom, was introduced to participant teachers. This study focused on two concepts within the cognitive - emotional framework of teachers, namely hope/hopefulness and a sense of self-efficacy with regard to their teaching context. A research question thus proposed for this study was: Can the initial training in and application of the Six Bricks as a teaching aid in the classroom, increase the hopefulness and sense of self-efficacy of teachers?
Teachers’ hope and sense of self-efficacy with regard to the teaching context, was explored through participants’ answers to qualitative questions and scores on the State Hope Scale (SHS) and the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) before and four weeks after the introduction to Six Bricks. The researcher trained the participants in the use of ten exercises through a Six Bricks training workshop and every participating teacher as well as every child in each participating teacher’s class received their own Six Bricks set to work with. The teachers were asked to use the Six Bricks teaching aid in their classrooms every day for 10 to 20 minutes, for a period of four weeks. A prompt was sent to the participating teachers, once a week during the four weeks of applying the Six Bricks exercises in their classrooms to measure their experience of the teaching aid. After the four weeks of implementing the teaching aid, the hope and sense of self-efficacy of participants were measured again.
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Qualitative narratives were analysed through thematic analysis and the quantitative database was analysed by using a computerised program, the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test which is a non-parametric t-test for two related samples, that explores any variation in scores from one point in time to another.
The results obtained from quantitative analysis indicated no significant differences in participants' levels of hope and sense of self-efficacy, however, qualitative results gave another perspective into the multi-dimensional processes effecting hope and sense of self-efficacy in the teachers. Qualitative thematic analysis identified themes of circumstances, learner attributes, equipment and materials, parent involvement, external support, normal teaching responsibilities, extra teaching effort and emotional disposition to influence teachers’ hope and sense of self-efficacy. These themes were viewed through external and internal control frameworks.
Feedback from teachers during the initial four weeks of application of the Six Bricks exercises, indicated that the training and application of Six Bricks created positive classroom experiences. The salutary influence of positive emotions can increase problem solving, innovative thoughts and actions and an ability to adapt to changes (Fredrickson, 2001), therefore encouraging pathway thinking and enthusiastic beliefs that goals are achievable. Unfortunately, for some participants, it seemed as if the myriad of problems at school outdid the positive emotions created by the Six Bricks exercises. Positive experiences thus need to be more than negative experiences before a person will benefit (Fredrickson, 2013; Fredrickson & Losada, 2005).
The main finding of the study was that the training and application of Six Bricks resulted in positive classroom experiences which have the potential to influence both hope and self-efficacy in teachers, provided that they continue to use the Six Bricks on a regular basis. The research question whether the Six Bricks intervention could increase the hope and sense of self-efficacy of teachers, could therefore be answered twofold: quantitatively no significant differences could be found in pre- and post-Six Bricks intervention measurements of the constructs, indicating that the intervention did not have a direct effect on the hope and sense of self-efficacy of teachers but qualitatively it would seem that indirectly, through positive emotions experienced during the intervention, teachers displayed more positive views and attitudes towards their teaching context, leading to hope and self-efficacy to be perceived more positively.
* The references in this summary are listed in the reference list of Chapter 1.
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CHAPTER 1
THE EFFECT OF USING A LEGO TEACHING AID ON THE HOPEFULNESS AND SELF-EFFICACY OF TEACHERS
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This study aimed to investigate whether training in and application of LEGO Duplo - Six Bricks (Six Bricks) as a teaching aid in the classroom, could increase the levels of Hopefulness and Self-efficacy of teachers. The mini-dissertation is presented in three chapters. Chapter 1 explains the problem statement, study context, a literature background and the research methods of the study and therefore there may be some duplication with the literature part of Chapter 2. Chapter 2 reports on the research component, in article format and Chapter 3 presents the conclusions and recommendations resulting from the study.
The researcher has the privilege to be involved in some of the local schools that are situated in previously disadvantaged areas surrounding Plettenberg Bay, Western Cape. Art therapy group sessions are done with children selected by their teachers. Two of these schools are Afrikaans with predominantly coloured people and from these, teacher-participants for this study were recruited.
The teacher-learner interactions in situations at these schools had been observed and the researcher picked up that teachers were irritated, angry and disappointed at times. The children referred to the art therapy groups were the ones who often disrupted classes and who made it hard for the teachers to do their teaching in a peaceful manner. According to Gordon (2006), even very motivated teachers can feel undervalued when they constantly have to deal with the demands of the teaching context and based on this, the question arose whether such feelings of being undervalued could also include lower hopefulness in and self-efficacy of teachers regarding their teaching context. The researcher is of the opinion that teachers could be assisted by introducing positive classroom interventions to build their own and their learner’s well-being in class. Therefore, in this research, the effect that a training experience with and application of Six Bricks as a teaching aid have on teachers’ self-efficacy levels and their hopefulness towards dealing with learners’ needs and challenges, was studied.
Problem Statement
School can become a stressful environment for a teacher and child and then it is not a constructive learning context. Cappy (2016) argued that situations influence a teachers’ ability to promote positive change. According to Cappy, disadvantaged schools in South Africa’s poor communities deal with many difficulties including violence, lack of funds, not enough educational resources and many more problems and uncertainties that accompany poverty. The author explained that, although teachers in low-income schools understood the potential they have as educators to make a difference in the lives of hopeless students, many felt immobilised by these teaching environments.
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Teaching is an emotional occupation with teachers using their emotions all the time, either benefiting or damaging their students depending on these emotions (Hargreaves, 2000). Titsworth, McKenna, Mazer, and Quinlan (2013) agreed that emotions are important factors in classroom settings that can enable, but also constrain learning experiences of learners and teachers. Sutton (2005) argued that changes in teachers’ emotions can be observed by learners and may influence their behaviour, while according to Nielson and Lorber (2009), learners’ ability to remember newly learned information is better when such information is presented in a positive emotional climate in class. Seligman, Ernst, Gillham, Reivich, and Linkins (2009) have found that positive emotions in the classroom lead to better attention from learners as well as to more creative and holistic thinking, with the opposite effects for negative emotions, namely shorter attention spans and more critical and analytic thinking. The classroom environment’s critical influence on both teachers’ and learner’s well-being, makes it a vital component to enhance learning and stimulate creative thinking. Thus, when learners’ well-being is increased, they learn better which is the goal of any school (Seligman et al., 2009).
Sutton (2005) observed that teachers use various coping strategies to help them manage negative emotions in the classroom. These strategies include changing situations that may lead to negative emotions, defusing a negative situation with a joke, letting learners do activities that the teachers find easier to manage or asking students to take some time out. Teaching and learning through play could help children, amongst other things, to build social relationships, solve problems and deal with difficult situations and could have a positive effect on the classroom environment. According to Fenske (2016), there is much research on play and emotion, but few studies exist about the value of play within the learning environment. This study therefore proposed to look at play with Six Bricks as a teaching aid to foster more positive emotions, such as hopefulness and self-efficacy in teachers regarding their classroom management.
Literature Framework for the Study
This study focused on two concepts within the cognitive - emotional framework of teachers, namely their hope/hopefulness and their sense of self-efficacy with regard to their teaching context. Each construct was discussed separately in the literature review. Play as a learning aid, the Six Bricks exercise and block building were also explored in the literature.
Hope/hopefulness
Snyder, Lopez, Shorey, Rand, and Feldman (2003) defined hope as self-perceptions regarding the abilities to conceptualise goals, develop tactics to reach these goals and to maintain the drive for using these tactics. According to Snyder’s Hope Theory there are three
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main aspects that make up hopeful thinking, namely goals, pathways and agency (Snyder, 2002). Goals refer to an approach to life with certain goals to achieve, while pathways indicate finding various ways to reach your goals and agency is the belief that you have the resources to achieve these goals. Snyder (2005) found that high hope levels often led to success in reaching goals and that people who had higher hope, had better outcomes in their lives than those with lower hope. Hopeful thinkers had been characterised as people who were able to set clear goals, think of several workable pathways toward those goals and who persisted, even when it was difficult (Snyder, 2002). The author further argued that hope could inspire people to believe that the imaginable was also achievable and that people with high levels of hope could sometimes achieve the supposedly unachievable.
According to Snyder, Feldman, and Rand (2002), hope theory suggests that emotions can be viewed as a consequence of how successful people are in the pursuit of their goals. The authors argued that positive emotions reflect occurrences in which persons perceived that they were reaching their goals and on the other hand, negative emotions reflected occurrences when a goal was supposedly not being met. Bullough and Hall-Kenyon (2012) stated that there are many differences between people with higher and lower hope scores. These differences include that people with higher hope report better self-esteem, more optimism, less depression, more positive and less negative emotions, they also tend to introduce themselves to others in a more positive manner. Individuals with higher hope have a greater sense of well-being, cope better in problem situations and pursue harder to reach goals. Bullough and Hall-Kenyon claimed that these findings are true about teachers and teaching.
According to Day, Hanson, Maltby, Proctor, and Wood (2010), hope is considered a critical element in the pursuit of academic goals. Duggleby, Cooper, and Penz (2009) argued that hope had a positive effect on both job satisfaction and performance, while according to a study by Kumcagiz, Ersanli, and Alakus (2014), the experience of hopelessness had a significant negative correlation with teachers’ work motivation and as a result, influenced the support that a teacher gave, the classroom environment and could also indirectly influence students’ hope to reach their goals (Phan, 2013). Teachers with higher levels of hope would feel that they are more able to help students with learning disabilities and since higher hope is linked to persistence to achieve goals, if a teacher’s goal is to help a student succeed this goal may well be reached, even with students who battle academically (Levi, Einav, Raskind, Ziv, & Margalit, 2013). Hopeful teachers model a hopeful approach in the classroom by promoting independence, problem solving and using personal experience to illustrate how to realise goals in the midst of difficulties (Lopez, 2010). Hopeful teachers further believe that they play an important part in their learners’ achievements and have the ability to form the
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necessary pathways to connect with the child’s whole being (Colombo, McMakin, Jacobs, & Shestok, 2013).
Snyder et al. (2003) argued that people with high levels of hope seem to be concerned with other people’s goals, which is very relevant to the teaching environment and also that the enhancement of hope may result in more positive interactions between teachers and learners (Snyder, 2005). Positive interactions are necessary as teachers with high hope levels tend to make it clear to their students not only what their teaching goals are but also how to reach these goals (Snyder et al., 2003). The authors explained that hopeful teachers pay much attention to the preparation of their lessons and are enthusiastic about the content, because they want students to master the information and not just learn what they have to in order to produce good marks when examined. Hopeful teaching interactions can be contagious as students pick up the teacher’s enthusiasm. It is unrealistic to expect students to be hopeful when the teacher is not and in the same way it is also difficult for teachers to remain hopeful when their students feel hopeless. Snyder et al. (2003), further argued that good teachers need to realise where their students are emotionally and adapt their teaching so that they will have the desired impact on the students since learners who experience negative emotions, effectively distance themselves from the learning process by tuning out or shutting down (Sanders, 2010).
Hopeful teachers, according to Snyder (2005), do not just teach, they offer learners an exciting learning process, therefore this study proposed to research hopefulness in teachers with regard to their teaching context.
Self-efficacy
A sense of self-efficacy refers to a person’s belief in his or her ability to do what is necessary to produce specific performance outcomes (Bandura, 1986, 1997). Believing that you can reach a goal is probably the most important part of reaching the goal (Maddux, 2002). Maddux explained that self-efficacy is not a personal characteristic, it is a belief or cognition. Self-efficacy levels can improve or block enthusiasm because self-related thoughts are important elements in the motivation process and as a result, people with a high sense of self-efficacy set and achieve higher goals (Schwarzer & Hallum 2008). The theoretical groundwork of efficacy was developed by Albert Bandura (1997), who argued that self-efficacy beliefs were focused on perceived abilities within a specific task and were therefore powerful precursors of behaviour. Bandura's (1986) theory of self-efficacy is based on the principle that there are two sets of performance expectations: outcome expectations or whether the person believes that certain behaviour will produce specific results and efficacy expectations or the person's self-confidence in their ability to do what will lead to the desired
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result. Bandura believed that efficacy expectations are the most important and observed that people adjust their level of effort according to the results they think their actions would have and therefore, their behaviour is driven from their beliefs and not from their actual actions. A sense of self-efficacy is not a prediction, it is not about what someone will do, it is about what someone can do (Maddux, 2002). Maddux explained that self-efficacy is not an explanation for something, but a belief about an ability to do something. It is not an intention either, but has an influence on intentions. The author further argued that self-efficacy is not equivalent to self-esteem, as the latter is what you believe about yourself and the former will contribute to self-esteem in specific areas where you believe in your ability to accomplish goals. Certain behaviours lead to certain outcomes, yet self-efficacy is the belief that you can achieve the behaviour that leads to the outcome. Maddux concluded that a sense of self-efficacy is the belief that you are capable to manage skills to reach goals in certain areas under certain circumstances.
Schwarzer and Hallum (2008) viewed teacher self-efficacy as a job-specific individual attribute and according to Künsting, Neuber, and Lipowsky (2016), it is a specific kind of self-efficacy that has its place in the personal characteristics of teachers and that can explain differences in classroom and teaching practices which influence student learning. Teacher self-efficacy has been explained as a circular process where stronger self-efficacy beliefs are suggested to lead teachers to apply more efforts, which produce better performances, which in turn provide affirmative information that reaffirms higher efficacy beliefs (Malinen et al., 2013). According to Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2007), teacher efficacy is context-specific which means that teachers may rate themselves high on self-efficacy when they teach specific subjects to specific students in specific settings, while feeling less efficient under different conditions. Guskey and Passaro (1994) defined teacher self-efficacy as the degree to which a teacher believes he or she can influence learner behaviour and academic achievement, particularly in under-achieving learners. In this regard, Guo, McDonald Conner, Yang, Roehrig, and Morrison (2012) found that teacher self-efficacy had more impact on the reading outcomes of learners than teacher experience or teacher education. Guo et al. further argued that teachers with a higher sense of self-efficacy created a more positive classroom environment and were more supportive of their learners, concluding that classroom practices might mediate the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and student achievement. According to Schmitz and Schwarzer (2000), teachers who scored high on self-efficacy were involved in more extracurricular activities and spent more free time with their students. Caprara, Barbaranelli, Steca, and Malone (2006) also observed that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs contributed meaningfully to learners' academic achievement, in line with the original view of Bandura (1993) that a teacher’s sense of
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efficacy affects the type of learning atmosphere that they create and has a positive correlation with the academic progress that their learners made.
Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, and Hoy (1998) believed that, although self-efficacy as a construct was well-defined, more qualitative research would give a better understanding of the process and causes of growth in teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs. Klassen, Tze, Betts, and Gordon (2011), who evaluated self-efficacy research on teachers in two hundred and eighteen studies done between 1998 to 2009, agreed that there was not enough information on the reasons for self-efficacy growth. According to Bandura (1997), there are four sources that influence a sense of self-efficacy, namely enactive mastery experience referring to previous success, vicarious experience referring to second handed experiences through observation of others, physical as well as emotional conditions and lastly, verbal persuasion referring to the encouragement from others. Tschannen-Moran et al. (1998) argued that verbal persuasion, like development workshops, can cause a temporary increase in teacher efficacy but needs to link with the development of new skills to make the increased efficacy levels last longer. The authors also believed that a hands-on approach in skills development where teachers experience the new skills through for instance role-play, could have a stronger effect on the beliefs of their teaching ability. When a new teaching practice is introduced to teachers, their self- efficacy may however first decrease because of the disruption of practice that the teacher is familiar with, but when they get more used to the new teaching practice and if they find it effective, their self-efficacy levels might increase (Stein & Wang, 1988; Tschannen-Moran et al.,1998). According to Bruce and Ross (2008), teachers with higher levels of self-efficacy may be more willing to try new teaching techniques, but their levels of efficacy will probably drop until they see that the new practice positively effects their learners and they incorporate it into their daily routine. This higher level of self-efficacy may then open them up to more skills development opportunities in future. Therefore, teachers’ sense of self-efficacy pertaining to their teaching context, before and after the introduction of a new teaching skill, was studied in this research.
Durgunoğlu and Hughes (2010) compared Snyder et al.’s hope theory to Bandura’s model of self-efficacy as both include goals and individuals’ perception of their capacity to achieve these goals, as well as an awareness of using appropriate strategies and continuous effort. The Hope theory resembles that of self-efficacy, by including the confidence in one’s capabilities as well as the availability of pathways and motivation to achieve specific goals. Snyder (2002) understood the outcome expectancy of self-efficacy as being similar to pathways thought of hope and the efficacy expectancies of self-efficacy, as similar to agency thought of hope. However, situational self-efficacy thoughts (agency) are the core of Bandura’s self-efficacy model, whereas both agency and pathways are essential
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in hope thought. Snyder (1995) therefore argued that hope theory takes a cross-situational view whereas efficacy expectations are situation specific.
Play as a learning aid
According to research by Lillard et al. (2013), a school day consists mostly of sitting at desks and listening to teachers, therefore, playtime at school is important to restore attention and improve learning. Tullis (2011) argued that both direct instruction as well as play have a place in high-quality childhood education and suggested that the research behind play should be enough to argue for its inclusion in education. According to Rasmussen (2016), the lack of recognising the value of play prevents parents and schools from prioritising play as part of daily learning.
Play is an important part of development in children, as it promotes not only physical, but also mental, social and emotional well-being (Ginsburg, 2007). Play approaches to learning are not just about taking a break from the normal classroom routine but, as argued by de Freitas (2013), play is a vital component in the way that children learn as it allows for reflection on and restructuring of their learning experiences. Through play a supportive environment becomes available where children are free to think critically, question and problem-solve, leaving them longing to know and learn more (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], 2009). The DEEWR view pointargued that play allows children to simply enjoy being and can inspire positive outlooks on learning. According to the authors, learning through play allows children to express their unique views and to be creative, while associating present with past experiences to understand concepts better. Play not only allows teachers to build relationships with their learners but also helps children to develop relationships with peers and creates a sense of well-being (DEEWR).
Martlew, Stephen and Ellis (2011) claimed that play enhances learners’ general knowledge across the curriculum and improves their willingness to learn. The authors further agreed that play develops skills that enable learners to interact with other children which improves not only their social skills, but also their cognitive skills, as learners become more skilful at making rules and as a result thereof develop more awareness of consequences as well as processes. According to Woolfolk (2010), when children play, they feel safe to try new behaviours and experiences, solve problems and master their environment. Woolfolk explained that play offers some of the stimulation that the brain needs to develop at different ages and that primary school children develop their language ability, reasoning skills and ability to cooperate with others, though the complex games that they partake in. According to Woolfolk, optimal learning for children up to the age of nine (Foundation Phase) occurs when the whole self, the body, mind and spirit are involved. The author also argued that play takes
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away the stress associated with having to learn and achieve. Rasmussen (2016) agreed that learning in the early years, up to around eight should be based on whole-child development and a play-based methodology is the best way to achieve this as early play-based learning helps to develop empathy, creativity and problem-solving. In a study by Suggate, Schaughency, and Reese (2013), children who had learned how to read at the age of five were compared with those who learned when they were seven years old and results showed that the two groups had the same reading ability by the age of 11, with the difference that the children who learned how to read at age seven essentially displayed a higher level of understanding. What could the reason be? Schoning and Witcomb (2017) thought that perhaps they had more time to discover the world through play.
The teachers in the study by Martlew et al. (2011) believed that play encouraged a positive, enthusiastic attitude towards learning and stimulated self-assurance and independence in learners. Some teachers felt that play made learning available to all the learners, irrespective of their capability and that the children were more involved in learning and learned at a faster rate. Martlew at al. found that utilising play gave some teachers more time with individual children and also noted that it was a good experience for most teachers, although they acknowledged that teachers would have to adjust their thinking towards the way they planned the day. Woolfolk (2010) argued that children learn better when they use more of their senses and most of their school day involves only two senses, namely looking and listening, while play adds touch, smell and taste. According to Lynch (2015), although many teachers are aware of the educational benefits of play, the pressure to achieve academic goals prevents them from applying the knowledge. The author suggested that teachers should be empowered with practical approaches on how to implement play in their classrooms.
According to Jabbar and Felicia (2016), the learning through play approach is based on behaviourist strategies such as trial and error, stimulation and reinforcement, as well as constructivist values including learning by doing, active learning and problem-based learning. Jabbar and Felicia suggested that an engaging learning environment includes the availability of resources and activities at different levels of difficulty. The authors further argued that play as a learning aid is most successful when the aid provides achievable challenges and remains interesting through a variety of uses, keeping children engaged at different levels while its relevance to their learning is clear in a way that makes sense to them.
The play learning aid that was used in this study is the brainchild of a South African teacher and entrepreneur, Brent Hutcheson and the DUPLO bricks are produced by the LEGO company and supplied by Care for Education (CFE) (Hutcheson, 2013). The DUPLO
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is colourful and fun and has the potential to bring a playful element to teaching without the children even realising that they are learning. The LEGO company has a department called The LEGO Foundation whose goal is to create a future where children will be allowed to learn through play to become creative, engaged and to never stop learning (LEGO Foundation, 2015a). The LEGO foundation does research on various LEGO products being used for educational purposes and they develop all products in association with teachers, for teachers and learners (Hands on Technologies, 2016). All product development in the LEGO Foundation is based on research conducted internally as well as by partnerships with the Chicago University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cambridge, Tsinghua University, Aarhus University, Harvard Graduate School of Education, the University of Copenhagen, Tufts University and BRAC University, as well as other research institutes working in the areas of children’s motivation, imagination and intellectual abilities (LEGO Foundation, 2015b). According to reports that The LEGO Foundation received from international dealers, the teachers who have used the materials in their classrooms view them positively.
The Six Bricks exercise
The DUPLO eight-stud bricks are depicted in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: DUPLO eight-stud bricks
Research has indicated that it is very important for children to play and work with large manipulatives outside their range of vision, which are approximately 20 – 22 cm or the length of four DUPLO eight-stud bricks in a row, as this forces children to move their eyes left and right and to track objects across their midline that enhances bi-lateral integration (Hutcheson, 2014). Hutcheson further indicated that five DUPLO eight-stud bricks would allow children to play outside their field of vision and the sixth brick was included to create the midline, which was how the Six Bricks idea was conceptualised. CFE (2015) developed over 250 different exercises with the Six Bricks and explained that the use of the larger DUPLO bricks not only assisted the child in building outside their field of vision but also
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made handling and building easier, therefore engaging the child as soon as they picked up a brick. The purpose with the Six Bricks, according to Hutcheson (2013), is that it is cost effective, easy to train and apply and always accessible by having them readily available on the child’s desk, allowing teachers to do activities at any time during the school day.
Six Bricks encourages open-ended activities that allow the child to be creative while having fun and in the process. It creates a love of learning (Care for Education [CFE], n.d.). Some activities provide a chance for children to work together with others while allowing the teacher to scale the difficulty of the activities up or down, depending on the level that the children are functioning at. Through the various activities sensory, language, cognitive, motor, social and emotional skills are developed without the child even realising it (CFE, n.d.).
Six Bricks is not part of the formal curriculum that South African schools follow, but instead assists it. Teachers can use Six Bricks at any time during any lesson as it is a concrete tool that can be used to increase understanding of a subject, solve problems or grasp concepts. According to CFE, activities can be done at different times for different reasons. At the end of a day, activities can help children unwind, while first thing in the morning it can get the children ready for learning. Activities directly after break can assist in calming the children down in order to re-focus on their work or create a break with the Six Bricks during the course of a school day to re-energise the children. Six Bricks can be used as motivation to concentrate and when children are done with their work, they can build for fun (CFE).
Some of the examples of Six Bricks activities that will form part of the teacher training include stacking the bricks in a tower by balancing them short end to short end, alternating the activity by using dominant and non-dominant hands as well as using a clothing peg to grip and stack the bricks, balancing a brick on the top of both hands and moving around in the classroom like an aeroplane and the teacher stacking the bricks in a certain order and then hiding it, allowing children to copy the model while relying on their memory (CFE, 2015).
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Figure 2: Illustrations of Six Bricks exercises (CFE, 2015)
According to Schoning and Witcomb (2017), six standard LEGO bricks can get connected in more than 915 million different ways.
Block building
Block play is believed to develop children’s abilities in estimation, proportion and measurement when children for instance compare the height of the structures they build. It further develops skills in balance, copying, part–whole relations, imagination and transformation (Casey & Bobb, 2003). According to Casey et al. (2008), learners use various strategies during block building and they suggested that block building skills for pre-schoolers and school-aged children are linked to spatial competencies involving spatial visualisation and mental rotation. The authors also stated that spatial skills are important for mathematics learning. Verdine et al. (2014) have found that block building is a practical method to improve spatial skills in children before they start with formal mathematics teaching. Sarama and Clements (2009) stressed the importance of adults creating challenges, as well as a supportive space to integrate maths into children’s play in an effortless way, through for instance building LEGO blocks.
Ferrara, Hirsh-Pasek, Newcombe, Golinkoff, and Lam (2011) emphasised that spatial skills are a vital element of a person’s intellect, as it not only enables the encoding of information about both small and large-scale objects, for instance knowing which way to turn at an intersection to reach a destination, but also enables mental alteration of information, for instance visualising the same intersection when approached from a different direction. Brosnan (1998) found a correlation between 9-year-old children’s ability to replicate a complex Lego structure and their performance on a mental rotation task.
A study by Kelley (2004) suggested that teachers should encourage complex block play for children with different skill levels, as the social interactions between those children resulted in more complex constructions. Spatial language is important for the growth of
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spatial skills and Ferrara et al. (2011) have found that block play is a spatial setting in which children are inclined to use spatial language in conversation with each other. In this regard, Weizman and Snow (2001) suggested that language development is predictable by the amount of words that children are exposed to, but even more so when these words are used in a way that helps the child comprehend their meaning. It has been proven that children learn words easier and quicker when rooted in playful settings (Neuman & Roskos, 1990). Christakis, Zimmerman, and Garrison (2007) found that language improvement in a sample of middle- and low-income children was positively correlated to block play. The authors suggested that settings that were cognitively and socially enriched were important for children’s intellectual and language development and argued that the distribution of blocks among these children might have stimulated development.
Research Questions and Aims
After reviewing the existing literature on teachers’ hope/hopefulness and a sense of self-efficacy with regard to their teaching context, as well as play as a learning aid, the Six Bricks exercise and the benefits of block building, it was assumed that there could be a positive effect on the teaching experiences of teachers following the training in and application of the Six Bricks as a teaching aid in the classroom. A research question thus proposed for this study was: can the initial training in and application of the Six Bricks as a teaching aid in the classroom, increase the Hopefulness and Sense of self-efficacy of teachers?
Research aims were to:
• through mixed methods, explore teachers’ hope and sense of self-efficacy with regard to the teaching context;
• after training teachers to use the Six Bricks and supplying blocks to enable teachers to apply the teaching aid in their classrooms, study the effects of training in and application of the Six Bricks as a teaching aid, on the teachers’ hope and sense of self-efficacy, by means of both quantitative and qualitative methods.
To address the above research question, this research made use of a mixed methods approach to obtain reliable accounts of teachers’ hope and self-efficacy levels with regard to the teaching context, before and after the introduction and application of the Six Bricks. Further, an open qualitative exploration was made of what could be expected to happen when teachers used a playful learning aid in the classroom. By following this approach, an understanding of the impact that the Six Bricks as a playful learning aid in the classroom would have on teachers’ hope and self-efficacy could be attained, as well as some indication of further impact on teachers’ well-being derived from the application of the Six Bricks in the classroom.
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Research Methodology
The research consisted of a literature and an empirical study.
Literature study
A literature study conceptualised the constructs of hope and self-efficacy and discussed play as a learning aid, explained the Six Bricks concept and elaborated on the impact of building blocks on the learning process.
Empirical study Research design
For the purpose of this study, the research design was a concurrent triangulation strategy of mixed methods. Mixed methods use the combined strengths of both qualitative and quantitative research to gather information and increase comprehension of research problems (Creswell, 2009). Creswell and Plano Clark (2011) explained that the concurrent triangulation design was characterised by collecting both quantitative and qualitative data in the same data collection phase, analysing the two datasets separately and then merging the results. According to these authors, the data from the two methods are independent and can be mixed when interpreting the data to provide a multipart view to the information. The purpose of the concurrent multi-method design in this study was to provide an understanding of the impact of an intervention on the constructs measured (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011).
Participants and procedures
For this study, foundation phase teachers were recruited from a primary school under jurisdiction of the Western Cape Department of Education, whose approval was obtained. The specific primary school was selected because the researcher is familiar with the school, it is within convenient proximity for the researcher and the school has a sufficient number of foundation phase teachers to conduct the study. Both convenience and purposive sampling methods were thus used.
The headmaster of the school was approached with the intention to do a study and he agreed in writing that the research could be done at the school. After approval of the study proposal and obtaining ethical clearance, the researcher made an appointment with the headmaster to, with his assistance recruit consenting teachers for the study. The headmaster introduced teachers to the study, by means of a brief explanation about the study and by handing out the consent letters to them. He invited those interested to complete the informed consent letters within two days and to place them in sealed envelopes which were kept in a file made available for the purpose. He also arranged for a meeting between them and the researcher, where after the research process commenced.
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Only teachers who agreed to willingly participate in the study and to sign the letter of informed consent participated in the research. The training workshop with consenting teachers was done on the school’s premises, outside school hours at a time arranged with and convenient to them. Each of the participants received a set of Six Bricks for themselves, as well as a set for every child in their class and they could keep this after completion of the research to use in their classrooms. All of the participants were informed about their rights, had full transparency on information about the study and obtained contact details of the researcher to make use of if they had any further questions regarding the study. More ethical considerations regarding participation in this study are discussed under the ethical section in this chapter.
Data collection
The teacher-participants in this study had Afrikaans as their home language. The two validated questionnaires and the qualitative questions were in English and at a level that teachers could understand. Their answers to the qualitative questions were given in either English or Afrikaans. The researcher is proficient in both English and Afrikaans and was available throughout data collection to clarify any unclear terminology or other uncertainties. The Six Bricks training was done in the language of choice of the participants. Group consensus was sought in this regard.
Quantitative data
Teachers’ hope and self-efficacy levels were measured using validated scales, before the participating teachers were trained to use the teaching aid. The researcher then hosted a workshop for the teachers to introduce the Six Bricks teaching aid to them. The teachers were trained to use ten exercises with the Six Bricks that they can apply in their classroom. CFE provided the researcher with enough of the Six Bricks sets that every child in each participating teacher’s class received their own Six Bricks set to work with. The teachers were then asked to use the Six Bricks teaching aid in their classrooms every day for 10 to 20 minutes, for four weeks. They did one exercise per day with their learners. Ten exercises allowed them to use a different exercise every day for two weeks and then start from the beginning, although teachers were also encouraged to adapt exercises and think themselves what would suit and benefit their individual personalities and needs. After the four weeks of implementing the teaching aid, the hope and sense of self-efficacy of participants were measured again. Throughout the research process, the researcher was available to participants to offer support and clarify any uncertainty they might have had.
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Measuring instruments:
The State Hope scale of Snyder et al. (1996) and the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale of Schwarzer, Schmitz, and Daytner (1999) were the quantitative instruments used in this research. The scales are both in the open domain for use in research.
The State Hope scale (SHS) of Snyder, Sympson, Ybasco, Borders, Babyak, and Higgins (1996)
Snyder et al. (1996) developed the State Hope Scale, a six-item questionnaire to evaluate goal directed thinking in the present moment, from the Adult Hope Scale, a 12-item measure with 4 items measuring Pathways, 4 items measuring Agency, and 4 filler items. Research by Snyder et al. (1991) indicated evidence of good reliability and validity for this scale. Factor analysis indicated the first factor covered 53.4% of the variance. The second factor accounted for 18% of the variance. The total variance accounted for was 71.4%. The three agency items loaded highly on the first factor at .83 to .89 and the three pathways items loaded highly on the second factor at .69 to .88. Snyder et al. further reported the Cronbach’s α values for the full six item version ranged from .82 to .95. Cronbach’s α values for the three agency items ranged from .83 to .95 and for the three pathway items from .74 to .93. Test-retest reliability ranged from .48 to .93. Nel and Boshoff (2014) validated the Adult State Hope scale in the South African context.
Test takers rate statements on an 8-point Likert scale, to indicate agreement. Responses range from 1 (definitely false) to 8 (definitely true). The Pathways subscale is scored by adding items 1, 3 and 5. The Agency subscale is scored by adding items 2, 4 and 6. Subscale scores range from 3 to 24 and by adding the two subscales scores, the total hope score is calculated that range from 6 to 48. Higher scores represent higher hope levels. The rationale for using the State Hope scale was to measure participating teacher’s hopefulness towards their students and their teaching experience in an objective manner. According to Snyder et al. (1996), the SHS is available for a variety of uses and it may be used in pre-post designs. The scale will be adapted slightly to help participants focus on their teaching experience by adding the words “in your teaching role” to the instructions of the scale.
Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES) of Schwarzer, Schmitz, and Daytner (1999).
This specific scale has been chosen since the wording of the items are clear and apply to the intended participants. According to Schwarzer and Hallum (2008), The Teacher Self-Efficacy scale is a 10-item questionnaire that identifies a sense of self-efficacy regarding job skills, grouped into four categories, namely job accomplishment, skill development on the job, social interaction with students, parents and colleagues and lastly coping with job stress.
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The 10 items selected from the original 27, are personal and developed according to Bandura‘s social cognitive theory. The reduction of the items was to optimise validity of the scale. The original 27 items of the scale were administered three times to 300 German teachers to improve validity. Cronbach's α ranged from .76 to .82. Test-retest reliability indicated .67 (N = 158) and .76 (N = 193) over one year and .65 (N = 161) over two years (Schwarzer et al. 1999).
Test takers rate statements on a 4-point Likert scale, to indicate agreement. Responses range from 1 (not at all true) to 4 (exactly true). Responses are added up to calculate the self-efficacy score. Higher scores represent higher levels of self-efficacy. The rationale for using the Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale was to measure participating teacher’s self-efficacy in a more structured manner. This instrument has been used in various countries including Germany, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey and Syria but has not been used in South Africa yet, as far as could be determined.
Qualitative data
Qualitative methods were used to explore the teachers’ own perceptions of both their hope and sense of self-efficacy as well as their individual experiences of the application of the Six Bricks.
Firstly, qualitative questions explored their description in writing of their sense of hope and self-efficacy, before and after the training in and application of the Six Bricks as a teaching aid in the classroom. This allowed the researcher to get the participants’ views in their own words, as they could consider their thoughts while answering the questions in an unobtrusive manner (Creswell, 2009). The qualitative data collection consisted of the following questions to be discussed in writing before being given the Six Bricks training:
Hope
1. Describe what you understand as having hope and being hopeful as a teacher.
2. Describe your feelings of hope as a teacher and for the children in your class at this moment. You may distinguish between top, middle and low achievers.
3. What do you think will either make you more or less hopeful about your task as a teacher?
Self-efficacy
1. Describe what you understand as having a sense of self-efficacy as a teacher.
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3. What do you think will either increase or decrease your sense of self-efficacy as a teacher?
The second set of qualitative questions that were completed by teachers after the application of Six Bricks, were as follows:
1. Please describe your feelings of hope as a teacher and towards your learners at the moment.
2. Please describe your sense of self-efficacy as a foundation phase teacher at the moment.
3. Has anything specific influenced your feelings of hope and/or your sense of self-efficacy as a teacher recently?
Secondly, an e-mail prompt was sent to the participating teachers, once a week during the four weeks of applying the Six Bricks exercises in their classrooms. In cases where the participants did not have access to e-mail, personal communication was arranged. The prompt read as follows:
Will you please, in a few sentences, share your experiences with or feelings about using the Six Bricks exercises in class this week?
The researcher was available to the participants during the four weeks to offer support and answer any questions they might have had.
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Table 1: Data Collection Schedule
Analysis of data
Qualitative data obtained by means of the qualitative questions and the brief prompts regarding classroom experiences, were analysed through thematic analysis in order to provide a detailed description of the teachers' hope and self-efficacy during the research process. Thematic analysis recognises and analyses themes in the data, describing the various elements comprehensively (Braun & Clarke, 2006). According to Braun and Clarke, the process of conducting thematic analysis comprises of the following steps:
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Step one is where the researcher familiarises herself with the data through reading the data various times, typing the date and making notes of original ideas. According to Creswell (2009), the data needs to be prepared for analysis which will give the researcher an overall idea of the information. After obtaining information in the form of qualitative questions and brief e-mail feedback, the written texts were captured electronically by the researcher, into Microsoft Word as the typed text was helpful when it came to the coding of data.
Step two of thematic analysis is creating preliminary codes. Creswell described this coding process as arranging data into portions. Braun and Clarke proposed gathering data related to each code.
The authors explained that when all the data has been coded, during step three of the thematic analysis, the researcher will look for broader themes by organising codes into potential themes and gathering data that fits into each potential theme. Different codes may fit into one theme. Certain themes may produce sub-themes and it is important that the researcher regards themes as changeable. Some codes become themes or sub-themes and some are rejected. Creswell (2009) argued that five to seven themes should be generated, that will be viewed as major findings to such an extent that each will be discussed under a different title in the findings section of a qualitative study. Creswell explained that themes can be analysed for individuals or as a general description for a group. The researcher must decide which themes are central to the study, based on its relevance rather than its quantity (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The authors explained that, what seems like irrelevant data at this stage, should be stored in a theme called “miscellaneous”, rather than be excluded as themes can still change, be combined or separated or thrown out completely.
During step four of the thematic analysis, according to Braun and Clarke (2006), themes are reviewed. Firstly, the researcher has to read all the coded extracts for each theme again and determine whether it fits clearly into that theme. The authors claimed that refinement and re-coding might be necessary as additional data, previously overseen, might fit within certain themes. Themes that do not make clear sense at this stage, need to be re-worked, connected or disconnected to other themes and new themes might be generated. Once satisfied that the themes clearly represent the various codes within the themes, the researcher has to determine if the themes represent the true picture of the complete data set by reading the entire data again. Re-coding is an ongoing process throughout this stage until there is nothing significant to add and the researcher has a good understanding of what the different themes signify, how they tie in with the other themes and how they represent a comprehensive story of the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
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Step five of thematic analysis is to define and name themes by defining the core of what each theme as well as the themes in general is about as well as recognising what part of the data each theme represents. The researcher needs to understand how and why themes are suitable in relation to the broad story told by the data and in relation to the research question. Each theme should be analysed in relation to this complete picture and sub-themes formed until the researcher clearly knows what the themes are as well as what they are not. Themes can be renamed until the name clearly describes the content of the theme (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
Thelast part of analysis is for the researcher to make an interpretation of the data by telling the complex story of her data in a substantial way that validates her analysis. The report should give more than just data, must include persuasive extract examples, tell the participants’ stories and make an argument that is suitable to the actual research questions (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Braun and Clarke suggested the following criteria for good thematic analysis: the transcript must be checked against the original qualitative data and attention must be given to every data entry and the coding process must be in-depth and comprehensive, including all the appropriate extracts. Themes must be checked against themes as well as the original data set to make sure they are well-defined and in-line with the research question. Analysis cannot be rushed and must capture the data effectively with rich descriptions and deep understanding.
Some of the advantages of thematic analysis are the flexibility of the process and that it is relatively easy for inexperienced researchers to apply. Thematic analysis may produce unexpected results as participants use their own words to describe their own experience or point of view (Braun & Clarke, 2006)
The quantitative databases obtained by means of the two validated questionnaires completed by participants were analysed by using a computerised program such as SPSS and assisted by the Optentia statistical consultant to, calculate descriptive statistics, reliability of scales and significance of differences in scores on measurements.
All the data obtained in this research will be securely stored by the researcher for five years after which it will then be safely discarded.
Ethical Considerations
The researcher was familiar with, respected and protected the human rights of every research participant throughout the entire research process (Western Cape Department of Social Development [WCDSD], 2013).
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Beneficence and non-maleficence
According to WCDSD (2013), the intentions of the research and the researcher’s behaviour should be in the best interest of participants and such interests need to be protected, also when it is in conflict with the researcher’s interests. WCDSD indicated that it is the researcher’s responsibility to make sure that no participant is harmed by the research and to reduce any risks involved to a point where the benefits of participation are greater than the risks. No risks to any of the participants were foreseen in this study, but if any individual experienced emotional discomfort as a result of any research related activity, a single counselling session, free of charge, would be arranged with a counsellor who was willing to perform this service.
Permission for the research was obtained from both the Western Cape Department of Education as well as the principal from the school involved and also from the Human Health Research Ethics Committee (HHREC), which is the ethics structure of the North-West University (No: NWU-HS-2017-0112). This study was designed to benefit the participants in a non-monetary manner by providing a set of Six Bricks to every participating teacher as well as all the learners in participating teachers’ classes. They further benefited from training on how to use the Six Bricks in their classrooms. All participating teachers and their learners kept the Six Bricks sets on completion of the research. The researcher took the responsibility to provide support to the participants throughout the project. To make sure that research participants were not harmed as a direct or indirect consequence of research, the researcher visited the research site regularly throughout the process and was available telephonically. Any risks and benefits of partaking in the study were explained to all participants.
Autonomy and respect for the dignity of participants
The researcher must respect the participants’ choices and opinions at all times throughout the study, and be sensitive to different cultures and beliefs (WCDSD, 2013). The Department emphasised that the researcher should respect the privacy of participants by treating their information with confidentiality.
An informed consent form, with information regarding participants’ rights as well as the purpose and procedures of the study was explained to participants and signed by both participants and researcher. Participation in this study was confidential and voluntary, with the right to withdraw at any time without any consequences. It was important to explain how confidentiality would be dealt with and that participants were not identified at any stage of the research.
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Impartiality and justice
According to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA, 2008), the participants of a research study should be better off or at least the same after completion of the study. All participants should be treated fairly and equally and therefore there would be no discrimination against or unfair exclusion of any participants (WCDSD, 2013).
A true account of research findings was given and the researcher refrained from falsifying any information. The researcher will keep all data safe for a period of five years after the study has been completed, where after it will be safely discarded.
Conclusion
The research process can be summarised as follows:
1. Writing and approval of proposal.
2. Obtained ethical clearance and permission from all concerned to do the research.
3. Recruitment: principal invited possible participant-teachers by giving them the relevant information regarding the research, informed consent and their rights as participants.
4. Conducted pre-arranged presentation, starting with discussion and administration of SHS and TSES and qualitative questions; followed by the Six Bricks training workshop on how to apply the Duplo in the classroom.
5. Started analysing qualitative questions through thematic analysis
6. Participants gave weekly e-mail or personal feedback for the four weeks while using the Six Bricks in their classrooms.
7. After four weeks, re-administered SHS and TSES and qualitative questions.
8. Continued data analysis (qualitative thematic analysis of weekly feedback and follow-up qualitative questions and scoring of quantitative measurements).
9. Wrote research report.
10. Gave feedback to participants regarding research results, also giving them the opportunity to ask any questions they may have had.
11. Keep the electronic data safe for 5 years after which the files will be deleted.
12. Publish research report and provide the Western Cape Department of Education and the school with copies of the dissertation and/or publication.
